Tag: Kiki’s Taverna
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Lobster pasta and freshly-caught sea urchins are two of the signature dishes that writer Heather Warburton recommends ordering at Spilia. It was one of her seven favourite restaurants on a recent trip to Mykonos.

Guest post by Heather Warburton

There are many reasons to go to Mykonos—the color of the water alone, the music, and the stunning villas—but, undoubtedly, the food scene will convince you. If you intend to eat light and vegetarian, you’ll find no better place, and then again, if you’re more into feta cheese and baklava, you’ll be just fine, too.

I spent five days in Mykonos in early July, and these were my favorite restaurants:

♦ Scorpios

Scorpios is one of the only places to succeed in being both a terrific restaurant, and a really fun party. On a charming stretch of Paraga Beach, Scorpios is a sprawling compound. There’s an indoor area that’s light and spacious, with comfortable couches and a well-designed bar. If you come early in the day (read: before noon), you might see people working on their laptops sipping a green juice. Outside there is one large bar, a deck, a beach with over 40 lounge “beds,” and finally, a restaurant.

Despite its massive size, Scorpios boasts impeccable, friendly service and an intimate vibe. Graze on tzatziki, hummus, and spicy pita chips while waiting for a table. They’ll be the best pita chips of your life. You’ll find a vegetable driven menu once seated, with Mykonian salads (tomatoes, capers, cucumbers and feta cheese), whole roasted fish with your choice of sauce, and so many others. (I loved the quinoa with raisins and the zucchini with fresh mint). Their cocktail list is particularly impressive and long, with innovative and not-overly-sweet takes on your spirit of choice.

Go for a late lunch or sunset dinner.

A sunset party scene on the Scorpios seafront

Please click on the link below to read about the other 6 restaurants that Heather recommends on Mykonos.

The scenic Mykonos Town harbourfront is part of the panoramic view that guests can enjoy with their meals at Roca Cookery

[Updated on September 18 2015]

Where to eat: Each year I receive scores of requests to offer restaurant recommendations for people planning to visit Mykonos. Since the 2015 travel season is officially underway with Holy Week celebrations for the Greek Orthodox Easter, it’s time for me to start rolling out my annual round-up of places to eat on Mykonos.

This is an informal “work in progress” list of Mykonos restaurants, cafés and tavernas that are either already open for business, or that have announced they will be opening within the next several weeks.

I will update this post regularly as I learn about more places that have opened their doors for the summer, so keep checking back for the latest restaurant additions. As of the latest update, this list includes more than 180 dining establishments.

Keep in mind that this is only a rough guide, and is by no means intended to be a comprehensive catalog of the myriad dining options available on Mykonos. There are more than 400 places to eat on the island so, as a hobby blogger, I couldn’t possibly keep track of them all! But as you’ll quickly see from the listings, you never need to worry about going hungry on Mykonos — the island boasts a vast selection of restaurants ready to satisfy even the fussiest tastes and appetites.

I have arranged the restaurant descriptions and photos according to the establishments’ specific locations on Mykonos; for example, in/near Mykonos Town, at Ano Mera, at a beach or elsewhere on the island. For fast access to restaurant information, here are some quick links:

GEO magazine profiled Greece in its June 2014 issue with a cover photo of Mandrakia village on Milos and an “Escape” feature on the “Secret islands and archipelagos of Greece.” They’re obviously not secret anymore!

Summer reads: When I’m not in Greece I enjoy reading about it — in books, magazines, online travel forums and websites. Thanks to feature cover stories about Greece published by three major European travel magazines recently, I’ve got plenty to read while relaxing on my balcony this summer.

Here’s a look at what the three magazine cover stories say about Greece:

GEO magazine June 2014

I discovered GEO magazine from France purely by chance — I was looking for another magazine at a newsstand when a photo on GEO’s bold green cover caught my eye. It was the picturesque harbour at Mandrakia, a fishing hamlet on Milos, under the headline: “Secret islands and archipelagos of Greece.” I couldn’t resist and bought the magazine after taking only a cursory glance at the contents.

It turns out there are 28 full pages of text and beautiful photos about several Greek islands including Kythera, Kalymnos, Milos, Santorini, Chios, Aegina, Tinos, Skyros, Folegandros and Rhodes. The stories aren’t travel guides — they don’t recommend hotels to stay in, for instance, or suggest the hottest restaurants and coolest beaches to visit. Some of the pieces provide brief descriptions and overviews of the destinations, while others take an insightful look into how the Greek Islands have been affected by the country’s devastating economic crisis. The sale of island real estate to foreign billionaires is considered in part of one report, for example, while another piece profiles people who have started new business ventures selling local agricultural products.

Island village photo foul-up

Mon Dieu! GEO magazine mistakenly published this eye-catching photo of Chora village on Astipalea to illustrate a short piece about Chora on Kythera — another island in a completely different area of Greece.

One of the GEO feature’s excellent photos — spread across pages 36 and 37 — really piqued my curiosity. It shows a white-domed church rising from the middle of a huge stone castle perched on a hilltop. The slopes below the castle are stacked with white cube houses that descend to a row of derelict windmills. I instantly recognized the location — Chora village on Astipalea, a butterfly-shaped island in the Dodecanese archipelago. I had shot photos from almost the identical vantage point when we visited Astipalea in 2009. However, the picture accompanied an article about Kythera, which is part of the Ionian island group, and the text said the town in the photo is that island’s capital, also called Chora. (Most main towns on Greek islands are called Chora).

I haven’t been to Kythera yet, but I was absolutely certain the photo was from Astipalea. So I poured through my photos to confirm I was right (there’s more than 300 pictures in my Astipalea collection on Flickr). Sure enough, details in my pictures of Astipalea’s Chora matched the same features visible in the GEO image, which was credited to Velissario Voutsas /IML – Hemis.fr, a French photo agency. Obviously someone on the magazine staff had made a big boo-boo by purchasing the wrong stock image to illustrate the article!

(You can learn more about Kythera, and see photos showing what its Chora looks like, on the comprehensive Visit Kythera website.)

Photo flop aside, the GEO stories are compelling reads, and are bound to encourage people in France to consider island hopping in Greece on an upcoming vacation. Moreover, photos and information about Leros, Kalymnos, Chios, Skyros and Tinos will encourage travellers to visit charming islands that often get overlooked because they aren’t instantly-recognizable mainstream tourist destinations like Santorini, Paros, Naxos and Mykonos.

Please click on the 2 in the link below to continue reading this report.

New this year, L’île Bistrot-Café at 3 Kampani Street quickly became our favourite hangout in Mykonos Town for a coffee, drink or light meal. This photo is from the L’île Bistrot-Café Facebook page.

Repeat and first-time visits: A short holiday on Mykonos this past spring gave us an opportunity to dine at eight different restaurants, including a brand-new café in Mykonos Town, four other spots we had never been to before, our favourite beach taverna, plus two places to which I was eager to pay repeat visits after being highly impressed with them last year.

If you have been a regular reader of the blog, you might recall my restaurant report for 2012, in which I recounted my good experiences at more than a dozen different places. I specifically noted that I didn’t have a single disappointing meal during that holiday, and found restaurant service, overall, to be quite good.

I was anxious to see how Mykonos restaurants would compare this year — and hopeful, of course, that we would enjoy every restaurant and meal.

This view of a calm cove and tranquil beach on Panormos Bay is a major element of the sublime setting and laid-back, relaxed ambience…

… that continue to draw scores of diners to cozy Kiki’s Taverna near Agios Sostis beach on Mykonos. But the taverna’s superb salads and great grilled meat dishes are the main reasons why Kiki’s remains one of the most talked about beach restaurants on the island. Click on the photos to view full-size pictures.

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[This is the second in a series of reports about the Mykonos restaurant and bar scene this summer. The first highlighted restaurants in and near Mykonos Town that have been generating lots of buzz so far this season. This instalment profiles popular restaurants at a dozen different beach areas on the island.]

Best of the beaches: Mykonos is one of the most popular beach destinations in Greece, boasting more than two dozen major beaches plus countless coves and secret swimming spots off the beaten tourist path.

The good news for visitors who work up an appetite while enjoying the sun, sand and sea is that very good restaurants — some of which are considered to be among the best dining spots on the island — can be found on or near at least 16 of those beautiful beaches.

Here’s a look at the restaurants and tavernas at a dozen different beaches that travellers and locals alike have been talking about the most this summer. (I will provide a more comprehensive list of dining establishments at all beach areas in a separate post still to come.)